May 10, 2011

birds of a feather tween party

my oldest daughter olivia just turned 12.
AND, she is almost as tall as me...where in the WORLD does the time go?
*sigh...
in our family, we alternate "friend" birthday parties and "family" birthday parties.
since we only have a "big" party every other year, i like to make it really special.
when olivia turned 10, we had a "safari pool party" and invited over 20 girls. it
was a fun party, but making 20+ party favors and 20+ invitations was a little
overwhelming. this year, she opted to invite only her 6 best friends.
olivia is an animal lover through and through, and wanted the "theme" to
have something to do with animals...i searched and searched for inspiration...
i wanted something with an interesting color theme, and that was just
a little grown up and suitable for tweens. i was shopping at michaels when i spotted
the perfect inspiration in the wedding section! for those of you that don't know, most
craft stores carry a beautiful assortment of printable wedding invitations.
i knew with a few minor additions, these invites would be perfect for her party.

the inside of the envelope was pretty plain, so i lined them with metallic patterned paper.
 i also added the "flight itinerary"card.
 we decided to have the entire party "out", which is perfect for a group of young ladies.
 
since i only had 6 girls (versus 20+) AND i didn't have any food or decorations to
worry about, i really went all out on the party favors.
each girl got a wooden box filled with goodies.
(the boxes were also found at michaels.)
as each girl came to the car, we gave them a cute flower to wear in their hair.
i made the flowers with a floral garland that i  found at walmart and some barrettes and felt 
picked up at a craft store.
 each girl received:
a monogrammed bookmark (made from scrapbook paper and a letter cut with my cricut)
a stretchable mood ring
some m+m's and chocolate covered sunflower seeds in a hinged tin. 
(found in the wedding section at michaels craft store)
blue nail polish,
some vanilla body spray
a homemade hair clip
and some chocolate!
 for just a couple dollars more than it would have cost to buy paper bags, i was able to get these wooden boxes. i think they give a very "grown up" feel and will be something that each girl can use
 for years to come.

 my daughter wrote each one of her friends a poem and a note and attached it to the inside of the box.
these notes were the "response cards" that came with the wedding invitations.



a quick look at the cake...i am NOT good at making birthday cakes, so this
is something that i usually have a bakery do. i have also ordered plain cakes from
grocery stores and add somthing to dress them up. i did that here and here.
when ordering from a bakery, i always come armed with color swatches,
some sketches of what i want and a print out of the font that i want matched for the writing.
yeah, i'm a little crazy when it comes to things coordinating for a party...
party was a success and the party favors were a big hit! 
the girls all had a great  time, and so did my birthday girl.
i love you olivia!
happy 12th.


16 comments:

  1. What a darling party. I love the bird theme, and those boxes are fabulous! And the colors are so spring, it's so happy!

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  2. Oh I love all of it - the invites were gorgeous and the favours, absolutely GENIUS!

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  3. What a great party favor idea! The invitations were so clever too!
    xo
    Ashlyn

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  4. You outdid yourself! It looked like a wonderful party, with all the invitations and little boxes. Great ideas!

    Susan

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  5. How great is this?! Absolutely lovely. You have one lucky daughter. Thanks for sharing.

    - Kristy

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  6. Super DUPER cute. I wish I had a daughter so I could use all your great ideas. Everything was just perfect for a twelve year old girl's birthday.

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  7. You have some great ideas in this post. First the every other year party, what a grand idea, why didn't I think of that with my three girls. 20 down to 6 AWESOME! Girls can get caddy sometimes, so I think the smaller the better. The personalized boxes, oh me oh my, I bet the girls just died over those. Going to a restaurant, so darn smart! The invitations were so beautiful too! Great job, I bet your daughter just loved every detail and every minute of it.

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  8. love it! you are as crazy about parties as I am!!!

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  9. That is so much fun! I think we all would've loved that party at age 12. What a fun mom!!!

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  10. The birthday parties I attended at that age were miles away from being this amazing. What lucky guests.

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  11. This is so clever! I love the favor idea!

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  12. Oh my goodness, that is darling. I bet all the girls loved it. And I love that you take color swatches to the bakery..you are a pro! :)

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